ADDRESS ON THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS∗

This Address, written and delivered in support of a bill before our last legislature, failed in its
immediate object, as the bill did not pass, but as a monograph on the Pottawattomie Indians of
northern Indiana it is of such interest and value as to merit a place in any historical collection.
Mr. McDonald is regarded as, perhaps, our best authority on this particular subject. He has long
been a deeply interested, a conscientious and a sympathetic student of the vanished aborigines as
presented by the records and traditions of the locality where he was reared. And a study of this
tribe in its passing is a study of the Indian question in little. The story has in it much that was
pathetic and tragic, particulary to a large band located on Twin Lakes (Marshall county) under a chief called Menominee. Menominee was an Indian of unusual character, a friend
to the whites, a convert to Christianity, and a zealous promoter of good among his people. By a
treaty of 1832 twenty-two sections of land had been reserved to him and three other chiefs. When the
whites came for the reserved remnants (as they always did) Menominee declined to be tractable, and
sign away his land. As the other chiefs signed it, however, that was held to be sufficient, and at
the end of the time stipulated by the treaty the recalcitrant chief and his people were
unceremoniously ousted; their cabins were torn down, their mission chapel dismantled, and the whole
band, numbering nearly a thousand, put under a strong military escort commanded by General John
Tipton, to be conveyed to a reservation beyond the Mississippi river. Amid tears and lamentations they took
their departure. It was in September, the weather hot, the season dry and sickly. Suffering from the
swelter, dust and thirst the hapless Indians sickened like sheep and the long route was marked with
their graves. Particularly was there mortality among the small children; the ailing, jostled along
under the burning sun in rude army wagons, suffering for water and with no relief from the hard
ordeal, stood little chance, and almost every day some wronged mother surrendered her offspring to
earth.

∗Address of Representative Daniel McDonald, of Marshall county, delivered in the House of Representatives, Indianapolis, Feb. 3. 1905, on the bill to erect a monument to the Pottawattomie Indians at Twin Lakes, Marshall county.

In this Address of Mr. McDonald's, and particularly in another brochure issued by him some years
since (Removal of the Pottawattomie Indians from Northern Indiana) the reader
finds a circumstantial account of the matters here touched upon. In the earlier publication there is
also much information regarding individuals, both Indians and whites, connected with our earlier
history. The booklets, we believe, can be had by addressing Hon. Daniel McDonald, Plymouth, Ind.

LAKE MAXINKUCKEE.

The History of Lake Maxinkuckee, by Daniel McDonald, to which is appended "Fishes and Fishing in the
Lake," by Judge A. C. Capron, "The Maxinkuckee
Lake Association," by W. T. Wilson, and "The Aubbeenaubbee yacht Club," by T. H.
Wilson, Jr., is a handsome booklet designed to promote interest in what is regarded as one of
Indiana's finest lakes. The historical part contains considerable interesting lore about the first
settlers and the Indians who were located about the lake. Of particular interest are some
authoritative letters touching the name of the place. These letters, written to Mr. McDonald in
response to queries we here give:

Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C., Sept. 13, 1889.

DEAR SIR: In reply to your letter of the 18th,
I have to say that the lake referred to is spelled "Muk-sin-cuck-u" in the official
field notes of the survey of the township in which the lake is situated.

Respectfully yours, W. M. STONE, Acting Commissioner.

Auditor of State, Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 27, 1897.

DEAR SIR: On examination of our field notes I
find in the survey made by Deputy Surveyor David Hillis he spells it
"Mek-in-kee-kee." In another place in a survey of a small fraction of land on the
lake Jerry Smith, deputy surveyor, spells it "Muk-sen-cuk-ee." This is all the field
notes show as to the name.

Very truly yours, A. C. DAILY, Auditor of State.

County Surveyor's Office, Plymouth, Ind., Feb. 1, 1898.

DEAR SIR: On examination of the records of the
surveyor's office of Marshall county, containing copies of the original field notes, I find the following in
regard to the orthography of Max-inkuckee lake. On page 43 of the survey of towns 32
and 33, David Hillis, deputy surveyor, makes the following note: "There are also
several lakes in the county. The Max-in-kuck-ee lake is large and beautiful," ∗ ∗ ∗

MY DEAR SIR:—Your inquiry of
February 3d, relative to the meaning and pronunciation of the word Muck-sen-cuk-ee,
at hand. I have written it as nearly correct as the white man's o-.daw-naw (tongue)
can pronounce it. It means, in the Algonquin dialect, "There is grass." ∗ ∗ ∗

SIMON PO-KA-GON.∗

On page 705 of the revision of the Indian Treaties of the United States, in a treaty made at Nees-wau-gee Camp, in 1838, the word is spelled
Max-ee-nie-kee-kee. Only in the records of Marshall county is it spelled Max-in-kuck-ee. This is but a copy of the original field notes at the
State Auditor's office, and whoever transcribed these notes made a mistake in the spelling; and thus
was established the form that has become fixed. The present name, says Mr. McDonald, "lacks a good
deal of being a pure Indian word. ‘Max' is German, and the balance of the word is made up of Scotch,
Irish, American and Algonquin."

THE FIRST OLD SETTLERS' MEETING.

Mr. Isaac H. Julian, of San Marcos, Texas, sends us a copy of the "Memoir of David Hoover," a pamphlet now rare, published in
1856. David Hoover was one of the earliest and best-known pioneers of Wayne county. The pamphlet contains an account of the first Old Settlers' Meeting of Wayne county, held in September 1855. Mr. Julian thinks this was the first of these meetings held in
the State. If any reader of this knows of a previous one we will be glad to be informed.

∗Simon Pokagon, an educated Indian, was the last of the Pottawattomie chiefs
in this part of the country. He and his band remained in Michigan.